Can't Use Helmets in the Sun????



"Hadron Quark" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Peter Clinch <[email protected]> writes:
>
>> Hadron Quark wrote:
>>
>>> Who said anything about *whether* you should wear a helmet? I already
>>> said I dont. This discussion is about whether a helmet provides
>>> protection.

>>
>> I've already quoted a rather relevant piece but you seem to have
>> ignored it so here it is again:
>>
>> "the very eminent QC under whose instruction I was privileged to work,
>> tried repeatedly to persuade the equally eminent neurosurgeons acting
>> for either side, and the technical expert, to state that one must be
>> safer wearing a helmet than without. All three refused to so do,
>> stating that they had seen severe brain damage and fatal injury both
>> with and without cycle helmets being worn. In their view, the
>> performance of cycle helmets is much too complex a subject for such a
>> sweeping claim to be made."
>>
>> That from Brian Walker, boss of Head Protection Evaluation, who are
>> responsible for testing cycle helmets conform to the relevant
>> standards in the UK.

>
> Did you read it? How do you equate that rather fluffy statement with
> whether a helment provides a degree of protection or not?
>
>>
>>> You seem to be unable to extrapolate any siutation : its a strange logic
>>> you have. You are either infallible or have never ridden in poor weather
>>> in fast moving commuting traffic where all sorts of situations rears
>>> their
>>> ugly head.

>>
>> On the contrary, I (along with millions of others) do it regularly,
>> and do it safely as well. I can dream up loads of situations where
>> I'd end up dead or injured, but that doesn't prove anything. OTOH,

>
> ??? eh ???? Of course it doesnt : but its you who mentioned it. So why?
> To deflect the thread again thats why.
>
>> the way that millions cycle safely and don't produce worse rates of
>> serious injuries than pedestrians /does/ prove something.

>
> What? What has that to do with whether a helmet provides a degree of
> protection. You're all at sixes and sevens here.
>
>>
>>> Ridiculous. There are loads of situations where one is forced, on a
>>> bike, into dangerous riding positions

>>
>> Again, the extent to which you appear to think cycling places you in
>> especially risky and dangerous situations suggests you are doing
>> something wrong. If that were not the case then the rates of serious
>> accidents amongst all cyclists would be much higher.

>
> You have no space in your small world for unexpected, unplanned for
> incidents. I am a cyclist. I do not wear a helmet. Things have happened
> to me that I could not plan for.
>
>>
>>> Yes you have outlined this : its total rubbish. There is already
>>> evidence
>>> that helmets have saved lives.

>>
>> So why haven't deaths and serious injuries been reduced overall in any
>> populations where helmets have been enthusiastically adopted? Why did
>> the expert witnesses in the quote above state what they stated?

>
> Expert witnesses probably never see those that dont appear on their
> radars : thats why. Again : yes or no. Do *you* think a helmet provides
> more protection than not wearing one. It really IS that simple.
>
>>
>>> I have said though that a helmet does indeed add protection for
>>> many many types of accident : the types of which you seem intent on
>>> blaming on the rider (as if this "cause" has any impact whatsoever on
>>> the actual discussion of whether a helmet is beneficial).

>>
>> Whatever the cause, the "eminent neurosurgeons acting for either side,
>> and the technical expert" from the quote by the expert witness above
>> doesn't agree with what you regard as a certainty.

>
> At the brain surgery level. You are moving the goalposts again.
>
>>
>>> What are you taking about? Why do you keep trying to deflect this from
>>> cycling : I do not wish to discuss helmets for caving and juggling and
>>> walking etc ...

>>
>> Safety equipment is to mitigate risk. It isn't to mitigate risk
>> /only/ if you happen to be cycling. If you wish to mitigate it

>
> err, we know. I have said this a thousand times. Are you really not
> understanding this? It is only you who keeps talking about "other than
> cycling" : I wish to keep it on track - hence my juggling dig.
>
>> cycling then that would be because of a certain level of risk. To
>> bother doing something about risk when cycling but nothing when you
>> engage in another /equally risky/ activity is ridiculous.
>>
>> [what's so risky about juggling?]
>>> Think about it.

>>
>> Yes, done that, can't really come up with an answer. Juggling sets
>> are available at Toys R Us. I don't seem to remember any set I've
>> seen carrying a safety warning.

>
> An pint with you must be a riot.


Do not waste much breath on this English-Scottish numskull. Note his
signature:

Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Surely, that ought to tell you everything you will ever need to know about
him.

He should get himself a nice modest humble signature like mine.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota
 
Hadron Quark wrote:

> Did you read it? How do you equate that rather fluffy statement with
> whether a helment provides a degree of protection or not?


If it surely helped then they'd be more inclined to say you must be
better off wearing it than not, as they were repeatedly asked.

> What? What has that to do with whether a helmet provides a degree of
> protection. You're all at sixes and sevens here.


The point is whether it provides protection, and to what degree, is much
more sensible to ascertain within a context of overall risk. So body
armour will provide /some/ protection, but just leaving it at that
doesn't tell you anything useful about whether or not it's useful.
Especially if you don't take into account any of the possible pitfalls.

> You have no space in your small world for unexpected, unplanned for
> incidents.


On the contrary, I have /lots/ of space to account very specifically for
them, and that's one of the reasons they don't pose me particularly bad
levels of risk.

> I am a cyclist. I do not wear a helmet. Things have happened
> to me that I could not plan for.


Yet you're still alive and your head is in one piece. Was that just
luck, or riding with sufficient contingency in place to deal with the
problems?

> Expert witnesses probably never see those that dont appear on their
> radars : thats why.


But all the events that didn't appear on their radars will be in the
whole population data, which is precisely why we use the whole
population data. And they show no reduction in rates of deaths and
serious injury rates as helmet wearing increases.

> Again : yes or no. Do *you* think a helmet provides
> more protection than not wearing one. It really IS that simple.


But since the answer is it provides *different* protection, it is only
that simple if you're overly simplistic about it. For example, last
time I hit my head coming off a bike I was wearing a helmet and it
emphatically did /not/ provide more protection, as the injury on my chin
bore witness. In an incident where the extra size and weight of a
helmeted head makes a difference between hitting your helmeted head or
not hitting an unhelmeted head at all, you are clearly worse off with
the hat. While OTOH there are many laceration injuries that would
benefit from a helmet. So it isn't "yes or no", it's "maybe, depending
on a few things".

"It provides more protection, period" is a simplistic and sweeping
generalisation that means nothing useful. It needs qualifying to be
useful. "A helmet probably provides useful protection against minor
injuries such as lacerations to those parts of the head it covers" would
probably be a fair comment, just as it would be for body armour. But
only when you take into account the degree of risk of such minor
injuries in the first place and weigh in the downsides of wearing it do
you have the sort of data that can really be useful to make an informed
decision.

> At the brain surgery level. You are moving the goalposts again.


No. The question put was not "at the brain surgery level", it was would
a wearer be "better off". Nothing more, nothing less.

> err, we know. I have said this a thousand times. Are you really not
> understanding this? It is only you who keeps talking about "other than
> cycling"


In which case the question returns and remains: "what is so special
about cycling that it requires discussing more protective measures than
other equally risky activities that cyclists partake in?"

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
Quoting Hadron Quark <[email protected]>:
>Same as that : but its ludicrous to suggest that they dont offer at
>least some protection.


No more ludicrous than it is to suggest that increasing the lever arm
won't exacerbate torsional impacts.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> flcl?
Today is Second Sunday, May - a weekend.
 
Quoting Hadron Quark <[email protected]>:
>Why are you intent on bringing other risky activities into this?


Because, if your position is consistent, why do you not wear a helmet for
other activities as dangerous as cycling, like travelling in motor cars?

>Its hard to sport trends in small samples. But I have seen enough
>material to know that there are a plethora of cyclists out there who
>reckon that wearing a helmet saved them considerable injury and maybe
>even their lives.


Indeed. So many, in fact, that it is quite obvious that these stories are
nonsense. How can one in twenty helmet-wearers have had their lives saved
by helmets if only one in every few thousand cyclists can expect to be
killed while riding?
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> flcl?
Today is Second Sunday, May - a weekend.
 
Hadron Quark wrote:
>
> >> Who said anything about *whether* you should wear a helmet? I already
> >> said I dont. This discussion is about whether a helmet provides protection.


and:

> What? What has that to do with whether a helmet provides a degree of
> protection.


and

> I am a cyclist. I do not wear a helmet.


Mr. "Quark," judging by the above, you seem to be saying:

a) the protection provided by a helmet is somewhat greater than
absolute zero

b) despite that, it's perfectly reasonable for a cyclist to choose not
to wear a helmet.

If I'm interpreting your statements correctly, we have no quarrel on
those points.

- Frank Krygowski
 
Sorni wrote:
> dvt wrote:
>> Sorni wrote:
>>> HELLO?!? Which of the groups above are inappropriate???

>
>> r.b.marketplace, which was trimmed from this message.

>
> They don't sell helmets among other cycling accessories on there?
> (Newsgroup restored so no one missed this vital discussion.) And why did
> you trim the OTHER groups?


Sorry for the delay.. I've been busy.

Show me where the OP was buying or selling anything in the root of this
thread.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu
 
[email protected] wrote:

> Mr. "Quark," judging by the above, you seem to be saying:
>
> a) the protection provided by a helmet is somewhat greater than
> absolute zero


> If I'm interpreting your statements correctly, we have no quarrel on
> those points.


Ummm, some. Whether a helmet provides positive, negative or zero
protection depends on circumstances. Mine provided my absolute
zero protection when my chim bounced off the pavement, for example.

Should be "there are are times when a helmet will provide non-zero
protection. That may be positive or, in some cases, negative".

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
GaryG <[email protected]> wrote:

[... GaryG completely ignoring what the former poster has written...]
> So you're saying that the effect of striking one's head upon the ground
> while wearing a cotton cycling cap would be the same as (or possibly safer
> than?) striking the ground while wearing a helmet?


No. "Striking" the head on the ground with force while wearing a cotton
cap should usually result in some aching muscles in your shoulder
because your brain is bright enough to keep your head as far away from
the ground as possible.
"Striking" the head on the ground with force while wearing a helmet
should result in some injuries to your neck (helmet straps) and your
chin/teeth, because due to the extra size of your helmet you won't be
able to keep your head away from the ground.

In the case that you are participating in a "case control" study like
the ones cited in the cochrane review in the moment of your accident,
these injuries due to the helmet would result in you being a control
case (no head injuries in the helmet region) and would therefor be
counted as a case where the helmet has prevented a head injury. What a
wonderful way to design a study this way, isn't it?

Serious head injuries while cycling are very rare if no motor vehicle is
involved in the accident and if the rider does not hit an obstacle with
his head. I have heard of only one so far and that rider was wearing a
helmet.

Ingo.
 
I hit a pothole yesterday, lost control and went down. Besides the
road rash on my left leg and arm, my neck has a cramp that concerns me
a little. I can remember when my head hit the pavement, it hit hard, I
thought the helmut was going to shatter into pieces, but that turned
out to be my wrist watch in pieces scooting along in front of me. I
know my head would have been hurt, maybe a concussion or worse, had I
not been wearing my helmut. Not sure if it saved my life, but I know
it reduced my injuries considerably.


On 15 May 2006 14:14:26 +0100 (BST), David Damerell
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Quoting Hadron Quark <[email protected]>:
>>Why are you intent on bringing other risky activities into this?

>
>Because, if your position is consistent, why do you not wear a helmet for
>other activities as dangerous as cycling, like travelling in motor cars?
>
>>Its hard to sport trends in small samples. But I have seen enough
>>material to know that there are a plethora of cyclists out there who
>>reckon that wearing a helmet saved them considerable injury and maybe
>>even their lives.

>
>Indeed. So many, in fact, that it is quite obvious that these stories are
>nonsense. How can one in twenty helmet-wearers have had their lives saved
>by helmets if only one in every few thousand cyclists can expect to be
>killed while riding?
 
foots wrote:
> I hit a pothole yesterday, lost control and went down. Besides the
> road rash on my left leg and arm, my neck has a cramp that concerns me
> a little. I can remember when my head hit the pavement, it hit hard, I
> thought the helmut was going to shatter into pieces, but that turned
> out to be my wrist watch in pieces scooting along in front of me. I
> know my head would have been hurt, maybe a concussion or worse, had I
> not been wearing my helmut. Not sure if it saved my life, but I know
> it reduced my injuries considerably.


Sorry, you're not allowed to think that (at least on some of these groups).

HTH, BS
 
foots wrote:
> I hit a pothole yesterday, lost control and went down. Besides the
> road rash on my left leg and arm, my neck has a cramp that concerns me
> a little. I can remember when my head hit the pavement, it hit hard, I
> thought the helmut was going to shatter into pieces, but that turned
> out to be my wrist watch in pieces scooting along in front of me. I
> know my head would have been hurt, maybe a concussion or worse, had I
> not been wearing my helmut.


But you don't: your helmeted head is heavier and bigger than your
unhelmeted head, so it's quite possible that contributed to you taking
the head hit.

> Not sure if it saved my life, but I know
> it reduced my injuries considerably.


It /may/ have saved you a worse injury, but you do not *know* that.
Furthermore, the extra size of the helmet may have given a lever that
contributed to that worrying neck cramp.

The number of anecdotes of "helmet saved me" increases at a far greater
rate than unhelmeted riders collect serious head injuries. Thus it is
clear they are not reliable guides.

See http://www.cyclehelmets.org/mf.html?1019 for more.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
What a coincidence!

Yesterday, not even a mile into the Montauk 145-mile ride in NYC, this
cyclist was clutching his bloody head next to a taxicab. Hardly made
me think about my own helmet hung off my seat. I thought, hell, you
might as well wear a full-face BMX helmet, then.

But of course, what are the chances? And that's what the heart of the
matter is: what do you think your chances are, given what you know
about yourself as a rider, given what you know about the typical
traffic flow in your part of the world, given what you know about the
efficacy of styrofoam as a life-saving or harm-moderating material?

I try not to let anyone else make that kind of a decision for me,
whether State law or bike clubs. So far, the overwhelming majority of
people (~98%) don't try to -- cops don't bother, clubs don't bother,
etc. It is my life, after all.

Thank you.

=)



foots wrote:
> I hit a pothole yesterday, lost control and went down. Besides the
> road rash on my left leg and arm, my neck has a cramp that concerns me
> a little. I can remember when my head hit the pavement, it hit hard, I
> thought the helmut was going to shatter into pieces, but that turned
> out to be my wrist watch in pieces scooting along in front of me. I
> know my head would have been hurt, maybe a concussion or worse, had I
> not been wearing my helmut. Not sure if it saved my life, but I know
> it reduced my injuries considerably.
>
>
> On 15 May 2006 14:14:26 +0100 (BST), David Damerell
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Quoting Hadron Quark <[email protected]>:
> >>Why are you intent on bringing other risky activities into this?

> >
> >Because, if your position is consistent, why do you not wear a helmet for
> >other activities as dangerous as cycling, like travelling in motor cars?
> >
> >>Its hard to sport trends in small samples. But I have seen enough
> >>material to know that there are a plethora of cyclists out there who
> >>reckon that wearing a helmet saved them considerable injury and maybe
> >>even their lives.

> >
> >Indeed. So many, in fact, that it is quite obvious that these stories are
> >nonsense. How can one in twenty helmet-wearers have had their lives saved
> >by helmets if only one in every few thousand cyclists can expect to be
> >killed while riding?
 
"Peter Clinch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> foots wrote:
> > I hit a pothole yesterday, lost control and went down. Besides the
> > road rash on my left leg and arm, my neck has a cramp that concerns me
> > a little. I can remember when my head hit the pavement, it hit hard, I
> > thought the helmut was going to shatter into pieces, but that turned
> > out to be my wrist watch in pieces scooting along in front of me. I
> > know my head would have been hurt, maybe a concussion or worse, had I
> > not been wearing my helmut.

>
> But you don't: your helmeted head is heavier and bigger than your
> unhelmeted head, so it's quite possible that contributed to you taking
> the head hit.


By that "rationale", a cotton cycling cap would confer a greater degree of
protection than a proper cycling helmet. Not sure if that's the argument
you're trying to make, but that's the take-home message.

FWIW, the average human head weighs between 4.5 and 5 kg. An average
bicycle helmet (e.g., Gyro Pneumo) weighs 0.26 kg, so the average increase
in head weight is around 5%.

You've implied in quite a few posts that an unhelmeted cyclist can keep
their head from impacting the ground in a fall by use of their neck muscles,
and you've also stated that a helmeted cyclist's neck muscles would not be
able to overcome the additional momentum of the helmet. Given the small
additional mass of a modern helmet, I strongly suspect your argument is
specious (a nice way of saying you're pulling it out of your ass).

>
> > Not sure if it saved my life, but I know
> > it reduced my injuries considerably.

>
> It /may/ have saved you a worse injury, but you do not *know* that.
> Furthermore, the extra size of the helmet may have given a lever that
> contributed to that worrying neck cramp.


Yet again the clear message is that "helmets are dangerous".

Do you have any studies to back up your rather bizarre assertions that
helmets increase the dangers of head impact/neck injuries? Or, is this
merely yet more of your anti-helmet crusade?

GG

> The number of anecdotes of "helmet saved me" increases at a far greater
> rate than unhelmeted riders collect serious head injuries. Thus it is
> clear they are not reliable guides.
>
> See http://www.cyclehelmets.org/mf.html?1019 for more.
>
> Pete.
> --
> Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
> Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
> Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
> net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
GaryG wrote:

> By that "rationale", a cotton cycling cap would confer a greater degree of
> protection than a proper cycling helmet. Not sure if that's the argument
> you're trying to make, but that's the take-home message.


It depends on the accident. If the accident is one where a capped head
comes within an inch of an obstacle but a helmeted head hits it, then
that would indeed be the case. Another possibility is that a capped
head ends up concussed and grazed but a helmeted head is twisted by the
extra leverage allowed by the helmet and has its neck broken. But you
don't know if that would be the case up front, of course...

The take-home message is you cannot say for sure that after an accident
you were *surely* better off with a helmet, simply on the grounds that
it hit something. You might be, but you won't /definetly/ be.

> FWIW, the average human head weighs between 4.5 and 5 kg. An average
> bicycle helmet (e.g., Gyro Pneumo) weighs 0.26 kg, so the average increase
> in head weight is around 5%.
>
> You've implied in quite a few posts that an unhelmeted cyclist can keep
> their head from impacting the ground in a fall by use of their neck muscles,
> and you've also stated that a helmeted cyclist's neck muscles would not be
> able to overcome the additional momentum of the helmet. Given the small
> additional mass of a modern helmet, I strongly suspect your argument is
> specious (a nice way of saying you're pulling it out of your ass).


It's not just weight, it's size too. You'd have an easier job keeping
an unhelmeted head off the deck than a zero weight helmet because you
don't have to keep it up the extra distance required by the additional
size of the helmet.
The head is kept up by reflex action, and the reflexes are working on a
self-knowledge of where the head is and extends to. Unless you make a
habit of sliding around tarmac in a cycle helmet then the reflex to keep
the head up is using information on the head, not the helmeted head.

This is quite easy to see safely in practice: wear a helmet in a cave
and you'll bang your head far more often than if you don't (though in
this case since you'll almost certainly be banging it anyway, and are
never above walking pace, it's definitely worth wearing!).

> Yet again the clear message is that "helmets are dangerous".


No, it is that they are *potentially* dangerous and are *not* a clear win.

> Do you have any studies to back up your rather bizarre assertions that
> helmets increase the dangers of head impact/neck injuries? Or, is this
> merely yet more of your anti-helmet crusade?


Go to www.cyclehelmets.org and get reading.

For example, you can find one that suggests you're 7 times more likely
to hit your head in a crash with a helmet than without in
Wasserman RC, Waller JA, Monty MJ, Emery AB, Robinson DR. Bicyclists,
helmets and head injuries: a rider-based study of helmet use and
effectiveness. 1988. American Journal of Public Health: 1988
Sep;78(9):1220-1

Not a study, but an expert opinion you'll find there is, "the very
eminent QC under whose instruction I was privileged to work, tried
repeatedly to persuade the equally eminent neurosurgeons acting for
either side, and the technical expert, to state that one must be safer
wearing a helmet than without. All three refused to so do, stating that
they had seen severe brain damage and fatal injury both with and without
cycle helmets being worn. In their view, the performance of cycle
helmets is much too complex a subject for such a sweeping claim to be made."

It isn't an anti-helmet crusade, it's a get real about the realities of
what you can really expect crusade. If I was "anti helmet" I wouldn't
own and occasionally wear one.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
"Peter Clinch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> GaryG wrote:
>
> > By that "rationale", a cotton cycling cap would confer a greater degree

of
> > protection than a proper cycling helmet. Not sure if that's the

argument
> > you're trying to make, but that's the take-home message.

>
> It depends on the accident. If the accident is one where a capped head
> comes within an inch of an obstacle but a helmeted head hits it, then
> that would indeed be the case. Another possibility is that a capped
> head ends up concussed and grazed but a helmeted head is twisted by the
> extra leverage allowed by the helmet and has its neck broken. But you
> don't know if that would be the case up front, of course...
>
> The take-home message is you cannot say for sure that after an accident
> you were *surely* better off with a helmet, simply on the grounds that
> it hit something. You might be, but you won't /definetly/ be.
>
> > FWIW, the average human head weighs between 4.5 and 5 kg. An average
> > bicycle helmet (e.g., Gyro Pneumo) weighs 0.26 kg, so the average

increase
> > in head weight is around 5%.
> >
> > You've implied in quite a few posts that an unhelmeted cyclist can keep
> > their head from impacting the ground in a fall by use of their neck

muscles,
> > and you've also stated that a helmeted cyclist's neck muscles would not

be
> > able to overcome the additional momentum of the helmet. Given the small
> > additional mass of a modern helmet, I strongly suspect your argument is
> > specious (a nice way of saying you're pulling it out of your ass).

>
> It's not just weight, it's size too. You'd have an easier job keeping
> an unhelmeted head off the deck than a zero weight helmet because you
> don't have to keep it up the extra distance required by the additional
> size of the helmet.
> The head is kept up by reflex action, and the reflexes are working on a
> self-knowledge of where the head is and extends to. Unless you make a
> habit of sliding around tarmac in a cycle helmet then the reflex to keep
> the head up is using information on the head, not the helmeted head.


The reflex to keep one's head off the deck does not concern itself with an
extra 2 cm of radius...it's a neuromuscular response, and the response is to
keep the head up as much as possible, regardless of size or headgear. To
imply that a helmeted head will smack the ground with force, because one's
reflexive reaction to an impending impact miscalculated the additional
effective head size occasioned by the helmet is simply ludicrous.

>
> This is quite easy to see safely in practice: wear a helmet in a cave
> and you'll bang your head far more often than if you don't (though in
> this case since you'll almost certainly be banging it anyway, and are
> never above walking pace, it's definitely worth wearing!).


True perhaps, but that's not at all the same as the reflexive reactions to
protect one's skull that occur during falls.

>
> > Yet again the clear message is that "helmets are dangerous".

>
> No, it is that they are *potentially* dangerous and are *not* a clear win.
>
> > Do you have any studies to back up your rather bizarre assertions that
> > helmets increase the dangers of head impact/neck injuries? Or, is this
> > merely yet more of your anti-helmet crusade?

>
> Go to www.cyclehelmets.org and get reading.
>
> For example, you can find one that suggests you're 7 times more likely
> to hit your head in a crash with a helmet than without in
> Wasserman RC, Waller JA, Monty MJ, Emery AB, Robinson DR. Bicyclists,
> helmets and head injuries: a rider-based study of helmet use and
> effectiveness. 1988. American Journal of Public Health: 1988
> Sep;78(9):1220-1
>
> Not a study, but an expert opinion you'll find there is, "the very
> eminent QC under whose instruction I was privileged to work, tried
> repeatedly to persuade the equally eminent neurosurgeons acting for
> either side, and the technical expert, to state that one must be safer
> wearing a helmet than without. All three refused to so do, stating that
> they had seen severe brain damage and fatal injury both with and without
> cycle helmets being worn. In their view, the performance of cycle
> helmets is much too complex a subject for such a sweeping claim to be

made."
>
> It isn't an anti-helmet crusade, it's a get real about the realities of
> what you can really expect crusade. If I was "anti helmet" I wouldn't
> own and occasionally wear one.
>
> Pete.
> --
> Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
> Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
> Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
> net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
GaryG wrote:

> The reflex to keep one's head off the deck does not concern itself with an
> extra 2 cm of radius...it's a neuromuscular response, and the response is to
> keep the head up as much as possible, regardless of size or headgear.


Quite so, but the muscles and overall physiology and what is needed to
keep one's head safe (and thus capable of passing one's genes on) is
supported by several million years of evolution of not being bigger than
it is, which isn't the case with heads in helmets (i.e., if the head
needed picking up more than it does there may have been reasons to
evolve more effective means of doing so, but you won't develop such
mechanisms just for the sake of it).

As the publication I pointed to suggests, there *is* evidence that
you're considerably more likely to hit your head, however "ludicrous"
what I happen to be saying.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
Peter Clinch wrote:
> GaryG wrote:
>
>> The reflex to keep one's head off the deck does not concern itself
>> with an extra 2 cm of radius...it's a neuromuscular response, and
>> the response is to keep the head up as much as possible, regardless
>> of size or headgear.

>
> Quite so, but the muscles and overall physiology and what is needed to
> keep one's head safe (and thus capable of passing one's genes on) is
> supported by several million years of evolution of not being bigger
> than it is, which isn't the case with heads in helmets (i.e., if the
> head needed picking up more than it does there may have been reasons
> to evolve more effective means of doing so, but you won't develop such
> mechanisms just for the sake of it).


So the more we wear helmets the safer we'll be, evolution-wise. LOL
 
Sorni wrote:

> So the more we wear helmets the safer we'll be, evolution-wise. LOL


In the long term if wearing them enhances your ability to both
reproduce and be safe, probably...

I'll freely admit I wasn't too coherent in my arguments here, let's
try again:

It is natural to try and keep your head away from impacts by reflex.
Reflex action will try and keep your head as far away fromn the
deck as possible.
It does not always succeed, therefore there are times when the
muscles cannot keep the head off the deck.
Those situations are more likely to crop up with a bigger and
heavier head.
In any given crash, a bigger and heavier head is more likely to
take a hit than an otherwise smaller and lighter one.

How's that?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
> Sorni wrote:
>
> > So the more we wear helmets the safer we'll be, evolution-wise. LOL

>
> In the long term if wearing them enhances your ability to both
> reproduce and be safe, probably...
>
> I'll freely admit I wasn't too coherent in my arguments here, let's
> try again:
>
> It is natural to try and keep your head away from impacts by reflex.
> Reflex action will try and keep your head as far away fromn the
> deck as possible.
> It does not always succeed, therefore there are times when the
> muscles cannot keep the head off the deck.
> Those situations are more likely to crop up with a bigger and
> heavier head.
> In any given crash, a bigger and heavier head is more likely to
> take a hit than an otherwise smaller and lighter one.


.. . . and in crashes involving higher decelerations (e.g. at higher
speeds, etc.).

Rick
 
"Peter Clinch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Sorni wrote:
>
> > So the more we wear helmets the safer we'll be, evolution-wise. LOL

>
> In the long term if wearing them enhances your ability to both
> reproduce and be safe, probably...
>
> I'll freely admit I wasn't too coherent in my arguments here, let's
> try again:
>
> It is natural to try and keep your head away from impacts by reflex.
> Reflex action will try and keep your head as far away fromn the
> deck as possible.
> It does not always succeed, therefore there are times when the
> muscles cannot keep the head off the deck.
> Those situations are more likely to crop up with a bigger and
> heavier head.
> In any given crash, a bigger and heavier head is more likely to
> take a hit than an otherwise smaller and lighter one.
>
> How's that?


If helmets were 1 meter in diameter, and made out of stainless steel, you
might have an argument.

But given that helmets only add about 2 cm of radius and 5% additional mass,
I still think your arguments in this regard have no merit whatsoever...they
are, at best, mere speculation with nothing whatsoever to back them up.

Nevertheless, if my reflexes fail to keep my head from hitting the ground in
a fall (due to the type of fall, the force or angle of the fall, etc.), I'd
much rather have a helmet absorb the initial impact instead of my
unprotected scalp.

GG

>
> Pete.
> --
> Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
> Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
> Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
> net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/